Semiconductor chips include contact pads on one or more surfaces. Semiconductor packages may include one or more of the chips encapsulated in an electrically non-conducting material. External contact elements of the package are electrically connected to the contact pads of the chip. The contact pads of the chips are generally small. For example, some contact pads are square having a side dimension of about 60 micrometers. The known connection technologies have limits making it time consuming (and thus expensive) to accurately connect the external contact elements to the contact pads. In addition, the position or location of the contact pads for certain packaging technologies can shift as the chips are picked/placed and encapsulated, which has the potential to negatively affect the electrical connection between the external contact elements of the package and the contact pads.
For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.